AKA: Seattle Tower, Downtown, Seattle, WA
Structure Type: built works - commercial buildings - corporate headquarters; built works - commercial buildings - office buildings
Designers: Albertson, Wilson and Richardson, Architects (firm); Lohse, Henry, Sr., Building Contractor (firm); Sound Construction and Engineering Company (firm); Abraham Horace Albertson (architect); Henry Lohse Jr. (building contractor); Paul David Richardson (architect); Joseph Wade Wilson (architect)
Dates: constructed 1928-1929
27 stories
Overview
Ground was broken for Seattle's finest Art Deco skyscraper on 02/17/1928, and a cornerstone laid five months later. Relatively low labor costs of the period enabled large-scale commercial buildings to be completed very quickly in the 1910s and 1920s. From cornerstone to occupancy occurred in seven months, a rapid pace for a 27-story building. The building was intended to resemble a Pacific Northwest mountain, with brick tones composing the tower's walls going from dark at the bottom to light on top, with the spire decorated with light stone suggesting a snowy peak.
Building History
Brothers David Bruce Morgan (1869-1943) and Tasso Mayne Morgan (1862-1918) founded the Northern Life Insurance Company in 1906. They grew up in Cincinnati, OH, before moving to Albany, OR, in 1887, where they founded an insurance business operating in Albany and later Portland. HistoryLink.org quoted Clarence Bagley's History of King County: "Early Seattle historian Clarence Bagley tells us that the brothers came to Seattle in 1905 with an innovative approach to insurance based on their years of experience in Oregon: They combined accident and health policies with life insurance. The Northern Life Insurance Company, which the Morgans incorporated in Seattle on July 24, 1906, was the only company in the state to offer that combined approach at the time." (See Clarence B. Bagley, History of King County, [Chicago: S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.,1929], p. 5-17 and Dotty DeCoster, "Northern Life/Seattle Tower [Seattle],"
The group Seattle Landmark Joint Venture sold the building to Seattle Landmark LLC on 11/22/2004 for $19,179,793. Seattle Landmark LLC, in turn, vended it to Legacy Partners II Seattle Tower LLC for $36,090,000 on 08/01/2006. An entity known as Seattle Tower Partners LLC purchased it on 04/22/2010 for $20,650,000, almost $16 million less that it was sold for in 2006. Seattle Tower Partners LLC exchanged the historic tower to TR Seattle Tower Corp. on 08/24/2011 for $30,450,000. On 10/13/2015, TR Seattle Tower Corp realized over a $19 million profit when it sold the building to DP Bunker Hill LLC for $49,500,000.
In 2023, the legal owner remained DP Bunker Hill LLC, an LLC registered in Los Angeles, CA.
Building Notes
Architectural historian Lawrence Kreisman observed about the lobby in 1978: "Seattle's trade advantages over other West Coast ports were heavily promoted from the time of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition onward. This relief map in the lobby of the Northern Life Tower, completed in 1928 by Albertson, Richardson and Wilson, visually expresses the city's role as the Gateway to the Pacific Rim. A great steamship, probably one of James J. Hill's, leaves Seattle (symbolized by the Northern Life Tower) for Asia. Los Angeles, also a thriving port, is pointedly symbolized by a Spanish Colonial mission rather than a skyscraper." (See Lawrence Kreisman, "Northwest Living Nature In Architecture -- Seattle Buildings Wear Waves Of Creature Profiles," Seattle Times, 01/14/1990,
The Northern Life Insurance Company Building #2 was featured prominently in advertising over the years, becoming a beloved landmark on the city's skyline. Its carefully designed Art Deco aesthetic resonated with the public.
In 2023, the Northern Life Building #2 occupied a 13,320-square-foot (0.31-acre) lot and contained 216,571 gross square feet, 169,883, net. The land and improvement had a value of $67,678,000 for the tax year 2023. This was up from $30,237,000 in 2013 and $14,093,000 in 2003.
Alteration
About $220,000 worth of remodeling occurred in 1998 and 1999.
Non-structural office tenant improvements occurred in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, and 2021.
Seattle Historic Landmark: 137
National Register of Historic Places (May 30, 1975): 75001857 NRHP Images (pdf) NHRP Registration Form (pdf)
King County Assessor Number: 1975200005 Department of Assessments eReal Property GIS Center parcel report GIS Center parcel viewer GIS Center iMap viewer
PCAD id: 4731